1936-01-10 — Page 11

THE CHINA MAIL FRIDAY,

JANUARY 18, 1936

andow, The Dream Tree

(Continued from Pape 2). upulous honesty. Nothing had en taken. There were the two beds which he remembered, the tchen chair, and the easy chair. le are was in its place in the cor-

er behind the stove. Even the intern had oil in it

Night fell. He built a roaring re in the rustic, stone fireplace. te ravenously, and slept presently m a bed made of two blankets, two steamer rugs, and an automobile robe.

At the end of a month he had stopped aching from head to foot and was panning in the neighbour hood of $5 a day. It was unlikely that he would ever strike a rich pocket, but he preferred to believe the opposite. It made life so much more interesting. He had located his boundaries. Half a mile of the level ridge back of the cabin be Jonged to him and both banks of

the brook for an equal distance.

If the hill could have been work- ed by the Alaska-Juneau process it into a might have developed

valuable property-

But for less

than one hundred thousand dollars it was hardly possible to make the Meanwhile he was experiment

living a life of gorgeous indepen- dence and putting money in the bank.

Mrs. Radcliff wrote that from the sale of his things she had mare than paid herself what was owing and she enclosed the difference, postal order for eight dollars.

Sometimes when the loneliness became a little too bitter he sought companionship in Jim Town He had scraped acquaintance with a number of old timers and he never wearied of the stories they told these were Sometimes him. stories of violence, but mostly they were of fortunes missed or won by

strange freaks of fortune.

They told, for instance, of the Swede who was new to the dig- gings end who, when he asked where he had better start digging, was told thei at the roots of yon- dar tree might be a good place And so it proved to be. With the first thrust of his shovel the Swede opened a pocket schich netted-kim nearly thirty thousand dollars. There were many variations of this story and there were stories of men, who had been told where to dig in dreams

If dreams are the chil

·dren of suggestion then it was this laat family of stories which deeply affected Johnnie Brinkley's future: Life.

He began to dream. At frst the dream seemed merely to assure him that somewhere on his property there was a rich pocket of gold. But they did not tell him where it was, even vaguely. Then, and probably the story of the Swede dreamed had a hand in this, he that the rich pocket was all deeply mixed up with the roots of a tree. Five nights later he saw the tree. It was not to be mistaken for any other tree. It was a white oak and branch which it had one main doubled back on itself as a man's arm doubles when he shows of his biceps. Even after the stuff of dreams had been swept away by the clear morning light and he was wide awake the image of the tree remained fixed in his memory: But even this fact did not at once start him on a wild goose chase. Every one was agreed that a dream before it could amount to a row of pins had to be dreamed three timez

Nevertheless, the gold fever of which he was by no means cured" flared up with renewed force and hope.

Johnnie was not in the least greedy. The thought of finding something rare, something which two generations of miners had overlooked, excited him much more than the thought of finding some thing valuable. It was a sporting If the pocket did proposition. exist he simply had to find it. Just so it is possible to conceive of a man who should gradually work himself into a passion of deter mination to find the needle that has been lost in the haystack

After Johnnie Brinkley had once more seen the tree in a dream be He called it tave it a name. „Sandow because of the proud way in which it stood and showed aft Its biceps. But he had made up his mind, which was beginning to be tinged with superstition, that it would be bad luck to make a hunt for the tree until he had seen it in a third dresin. And, of course, he dreamed about the tree in

(Continued on Page 15).

BY GOLLY-ILL HAVE TO PINA BOUQUET ON ME-

„THINKIN UP SELF FE

THIS DEA OF LOCKIN'

HONES IN THE SAFE-SOMAGGE

CAN'T USE THEM-

I THOUGHT I GAVE ALL ME FRIENDS

THE PHONE NUMBERS UP IN ME ROOM-

THAT MUST

BE DINTY

OR

WELL IF YOU EVER DO IT AGAIN-I'LL CLEAN-UP THE HOUSE WITH YOU-

THE

1933, King Features Syndicate, Inc., Greer Beinsin-tights suserved.

Rosie's BEAU

BY

GEO MCMANUS

Registered U. S. Patent Offer

OH YES DARLING, I'LL BE GLAD TO SEE YOU-

HAM AND BEANS

ERRY-

O

Bringing Up Father

IT'S DINTY-

OSE-DEAR,

I'M DOWN AT THE

OLD ELITE RESTAURANT-I'M

HAVING LUNCH

HERE

WELL-ALL JUST SIT AROUND AN WAI

AS TEXPECT

A CALL FROM TOM

AND JERRY AND

DINTY MOORE-

质量

ESTHS IS MR- JIGGS-WHAT-YOU

CALLED ME TO ASK ME F MRS. JIGGS IS HOME-NO,

SHE'S OT-

વા

PARDON-SIR, BUT YOUARÉ WANTED ON THE PHONE DOWNSTAIRS

ARE

ONES ING -STAIRS-512-

URCHNÍKUUBI O

WITH ALL THESE

SOMEONE WOULD CAL ME ONE DX

STAIRS

DS

BY GOLLY- IT S

LIKE TH ARE ALI

RINGIN

WHAT'S THAT? NO, MRS. JIGGS IS NOT AT HOME-MRS. JIGGS IS OUT-

SO-YOU HAD ALL THE PHONES LOCKED UP, DID YOU? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY SUCH A

TRICK?

OH! I DIDN'T WANT THEM.

TO GIT ALL

RATS!

MRS.

YES-HE'S HERE- BUT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TALK TO HIM- AND DON'T YOU DARE CALL UP AGAIN-

HELLO-MRS. ECANTE

GOING TO CAL

TWAS YOU UP HAVE

PHONE NUMBE

S NOTME?

مات

OH! ISNT THAT NICE ?:1 I'M JUST LEAVING THE HOUSE-SO I'M GOING TO JOIN YOU-I'LL BE

THERE IN TEN MINUTES

GOSH-ILL HAVE TO GO SOME TO GET THERE

BEFORE

GREAT SCOTT- IT'S BEING TORN DOWN-

+7935. King Festum SyndicaE.

12:15

Creat Britain rights

BUILDING BEING TORN

DOWN BY

THE HUGH WRECKUM.CO

IT'S THE GYPSY IN ME

FIAM ELECTED- YOUR TROUBLES WILL BE OVER-1.

WILL SEE THAT-